Family violence against older adults - ARCHIVED

Persons aged 65 years and older constitute one of the fastest growing segments of the Canadian population. In 2000, there were an estimated 3.8 million older men and women representing 13% of the country's total population, up from 9% just 20 years earlier. Declining fertility rates and increased longevity, due primarily to improved health care, have contributed to this rapid growth. And as the baby-boom generation (those born between 1946 and 1965) begins to reach the age of 65 early in the next decade, the absolute number of older adults, as well as their share of the total population, is expected to grow even more quickly. Indeed, by 2021, population projections estimate that older Canadians will number close to 6.7 million or about one-fifth of the total population (George et al. 2001).